Despite technological advances in the medical area it is still common practice where medication such as tablets are used, for nursing staff to crush these with a mortar and pestle or alternatively with some mechanical crushing means and mix the residue with some palatable substance.
This practice not only produces a gritty result but leads to the possibility that a further patient may be cross medicated with the residue of a previous patient's medication. If some processing of tablet material is not carried out however it is possible for patients to have difficulty swallowing their medication or alternatively they may not take it at all.
The practice described is time consuming for staff and is a particular problem in the areas of treatment of the aged, children and adolescents, those in psychiatric facilities, prisons, those requiring drug and alcohol related services and the like where it is essential that doses of medication prescribed be ingested in accordance with the relevant prescription.
Injections can sometimes be an alternative to oral medication particularly where a patient, or an animal, refuses to swallow medication however a more preferable approach would be to provide medication in a form which was palatable to the patient and permitted the person administering the medication to see that it had been ingested. This is of particular relevance where medication is being administered by untrained staff such as in a hostel environment.